Watch a replay of the Delta 4 NROL-47 launch

This video captures the final portion of the launch countdown and follows the Atlas 5 rocket’s flight through arrival in the preliminary orbit carrying the Curiosity rover headed for Mars. (Membership Required)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 189 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch the SBIRS GEO Flight 3 early-warning satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired into the night sky over Cape Canaveral just after midnight Wednesday, carrying the U.S. Air Force’s fourth AEHF communications satellite designed to enable secure voice, video and data links between U.S. and allied forces.